


Champion

by thesparklypoet



Category: ASTRO (Band)
Genre: Enemies to Lovers, Hints of Time Travel, M/M, MJ flirting shamelessly with jinjin, Magic, a lil angsty, but also very soft, moon bin and eunwoo the best, moon bin and rocky bffs forever lmao, sanha is so witchy, the rest of the 0t6 are in it obvs, there are hints of violence but nothing too graphic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-28
Updated: 2020-07-02
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:13:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 13,812
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24961366
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thesparklypoet/pseuds/thesparklypoet
Summary: Moon Bin works for a government agency that deals with the black magic market in Gangam, Seoul, and one job leads him to reunite with his college nemesis Lee Dongmin. Moon Bin is more than happy to ruin his reputation until a revelation is uncovered that changes their relationship and the stakes.
Relationships: Lee Dongmin | Cha Eunwoo & Moon Bin
Kudos: 29





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This is my second ASTRO fic!! i wrote this for my bestie Keera as a birthday gift (happy birthday friend!!!) she got me into ASTRO and we both love a good enemies to lovers trope.
> 
> It's massively inspired by their latest comeback, gateway and the time travel/time stopping concepts- i really wanted to do write something gritty, magical and soft in that vein, and this is the result!
> 
> Please come chat to me if you're enjoying it it would mean alot!! I think i'm going to post a few chapters daily until its all up :)

Prologue Yoon Sanha occasionally dreamt. But more often than not, he had visions about people dying. It was a gift passed down through his bloodline, and he was good at dealing with it; ignoring the deaths that would have no major effect on him or the people he knew, but sometimes he would have a vision about someone he did know. A vision that could change everything for him.  
He had now had three visions of this sort. One when he was three: he saw his great grandma passing away in her sleep. Another when he was twelve: he saw a classmate breaking her back in a car crash. And now there was the third; his friend Lee Dongmin, meeting death in the form of a bullet to the head.


	2. Dongmin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dongmin looking flawless...what more do i need to say?

Dongmin still managed to look flawless even after a blood bath. His leather jacket soaked up the majority of the blood, and it was only if you looked closely that you could see the blood underneath his nails. He ran a hand through his hair and sighed.  
Ten minutes earlier, he had watched Sanha drive off with the body in the boot of his car and then opened the pack of floor wipes and cleaned the droplets of blood on the multi storey car park’s floor. It was past two am, so no one was around, and Sanha had manipulated the CCTV with one of his spells. Ten minutes before that, Dongmin had killed a demon possessing a recently dead man. It wasn’t their plan to kill him. That government agency did that stuff; and Dongmin’s small team were already being watched enough by them, without killing one of their marks. They were here for the thing the old man had worn around his neck and taken to the grave with him. Dongmin looked at the object in his right hand now; a soft aquamarine glass sphere that said the time in cloudy, smoky numbers. He and Myungjun had gone to dig up the grave only to find the old man prancing about and shrieking the call of a Grave Demon; nothing but hungry pests, possessing the recently dead to then chase any graveyard visitors to eat them. It had chased them all the way up to the multi storey car park nearby, and they’d had to call Sanha for back up. Magic was getting stronger in Seoul recently.  
Dongmin sighed again, pocketed the little time telling sphere, and texted Sanha that he was done and heading home for the night and that he’d see them at the shop tomorrow. Sanha and Myungjun lived together and they were constantly trying to convince Dongmin to move in with them, but Dongmin liked his space, and more importantly, his flat was the only space that felt uncorrupted from all this magical business nowadays. He wanted it to stay like that for as long as possible, but he knew he was fighting against time.  
The little sphere ticked softly away in his pocket as he walked home; nothing but a haunting shadow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! :)


	3. Bin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Not Moon Bin....turning up to work with Rocky....just to see his college nemesis...nope, he's not that petty (of course he is)

“How long is this going to take?” Moon Bin moaned as he shifted on the bench he was sat on, crossing his long legs at his feet. “You didn’t have to come with me,” Rocky replied as he fiddled with his phone, without taking his eyes off the shop across the road. They were on stakeout. Their target: the knick-knack shop with the bright blue and orange storefront across the road from where they were sat. Their stakeout spot was shaded by thick leafy trees, which was enough to skew their appearance from the side of the road the store was on. “You said there was something supernatural going on, of course I’d come.”  
Rocky eyed him suspiciously. “You sure you’re not here for Dongmin?” Ah, Lee Dongmin. The selfish, arrogant, self-absorbed smiley boy Bin had had the unfortunate pleasure of being college nemesis’ with. He and Bin had been equally matched in sports, their acting club, but Dongmin shone radiantly and rose to popularity, where Bin just faded into the background. It wasn’t fair- and what was even less fair, was the fact they now lived in the same neighbourhood, sharing the same air as each other.  
Dongmin had it made it clear he hated Bin too, mainly because he viewed Bin as a threat to everything he was good at. But neither was going to give up on their beloved acting or sports; they fought three years out to beat each other to the top spot. No one else mattered because no one else was nearly as good as them. Bin sighed at himself; his Slytherin like mentality had definitely started when Dongmin showed up in his life, and to Bin, Dongmin was definitely a Slytherin. Bin liked to think of himself as Hufflepuff but wasn’t so sure now Dongmin had tainted his previously unjudgmental heart. “Th-why would you assume that?” Bin huffed, knowing exactly why his best friend would assume that. Rocky just rolled his eyes and shot him his wide, square toothy grin that made the world melt around him. His newly dyed pink hair lifted in the wind and resettled back around his face. He’d dyed his hair pink the same day Bin had dyed his own light green. They liked bright colour equally, and for the nature of this job, it was needed. They snooped around Seoul finding and exposing illicit activities or groups to their agency- an off-shoot branch who were either higher up than the police or had nothing to do with them, Bin was never sure which. It had started when they were in college and needed a little extra cash, a way of earning that wasn’t as demanding as a part time job. But now they were out of college, had day jobs- (Bin a photography studio assistant, Rocky a trainee dance teacher), the agency had started demanding more of them. The money was good though, and they knew they were safe and under the agency’s protection if they ever did get into trouble.  
But the thing was, they kept giving Rocky jobs with hints of the supernatural. People summoning demons, or people stealing magical objects; none of that should have existed in Bin’s mind, in their lives. It was strictly Harry Potter, and Bin wasn’t sure how well he was coping with feeling left out of these supernatural jobs, but also with the fact his own belief of reality was changing.  
He knew he should leave the agency, should probably have left long ago, but he didn’t think they’d let he or Rocky go that easily anymore now that he was tangled in magic.  
“I would assume you were here to see your nemesis’ reputation go down the drain, and gloat about having involvement in it.” Rocky said, still grinning. Bin gave him a light shove and said, “So who knew he’d be working in a plain old shop? I hope it’s made him more humble at least.”  
“Oh, no, no. This is not just any knick-knack shop, my good friend,” then he leaned closer to Bin and said, in more serious tone, “they sell stuff that’s found on the black magical market. Stuff like potions, or objects that have had spells cast on them. Apparently, business is booming.”  
Bin couldn’t imagine how on earth Dongmin had got himself into a business like that. He’d been full of so much talent at college. Maybe he was in it for the money? Bin himself wanted to be a photographer, a professional one, run his own business and everything. He was slowly working himself up to that; gaining experience in different parts of the field first, and still taking pictures, always, always taking photos. Even when he didn’t have a camera on him, he was thinking about how he could take snapshots of what was around him. Capturing moments in time, forever.  
“So what’s your job today?” Bin asked.  
“Right now, we stake out. Then when Jinwoo gets here, we go in and snoop- we’re after a particular item.”  
“What is it?”  
Rocky shrugged, and his brows furrowed for just a second. “Jinwoo knows, he’ll tell us.”  
Bin sat back and nodded. “Hm. Okay.” They watched the storefront for a few minutes in the easy silence that comes from knowing each other so well that you could be in the pits of hell with together and still know how to make the other laugh. “Minhyuk?”  
Rocky snapped his attention to Bin. Bin smiled faintly; he only ever used his friend’s real name when he was about to ask a serious, thoughtful question. “Was this how you pictured your life after college? Doing work for a shady agency and finding out about magic and stuff? Don’t you want…normality?”  
Rocky scratched his head and then fiddled with his watch as he thought of an answer. Eventually he spoke again, eyes still trained on the shop; an old woman was just leaving, clear shopping bag full of ornaments. “Before I found out about the magical side of this work, I wanted to leave- I was gonna apply for office jobs, non-creative work I hate, because I thought this would end up in flames. But now I know about how much more there is to it. How much magic there is. I think I want to work my way up, Bin,” his eyes had brightened as he spoke, “I want to help keep people safe from the bad parts of it, you know?”  
“What about your dancing?” Bin asked. What about a normal, regular life? One in which you didn’t have to hide your second job from your family like it was a dirty secret.  
“I’m never gonna stop dancing, I’ve just added to my passions is all.”  
He smiled at his best friend. “Well then, I’ll do my best to support you.” Rocky grinned at him, then nodded past him and said, “Here’s Jinwoo.”  
Jinwoo was newly pale blonde, and he wore a black denim jacket, and pale blue ripped jeans with combat boots. Even though he was older than both of them, he was smaller, but he made up for lack of height in being an all-round good egg. He was endlessly supporting the other two, and encouraging them to do their best in life.  
He was in this game for the long run, working his way slowly up, so he was an authority figure to them, but he was more mentor when he was being their friend. When he was their supervisor, he was always a little stand off-ish, just to make sure he kept the utmost professionalism. Bin admired the man’s dedication.  
“You brought Bin?” was the first thing Jinwoo said to Rocky. Rocky’s bright smile faltered. “He wanted to come, he has more interest in this side of things.” The lie was clumsy, but it was half true.  
“Well that’s fine, but three is a crowd in that shop, it might raise suspicions.” He brought his hand up to his face, tapping his chin in thought.  
Bin shot Rocky a berating look; he hated turning up to things uninvited, but Rocky was so chill about organisation, it was a wonder he didn’t forget his own birthday (February 25th).  
“If they’ve seen you two waiting on your stakeout though it would be weird if you didn’t come with. I don’t want anything going wrong today. The High-Ups are very concerned about the object we have to collect.”  
“What is it?” Bin asked. Jinwoo held his phone out to them. On screen was a small glass sphere with the time written on it. It looked like it had a cloud of gas within it. Bin said as much, and Jinwoo gave him a pitying look, to which Rocky laughed at.  
“It is,” Jinwoo started slowly, “a device, an object, with the ability to shift time, change it, stop it. But not massively from what I know. Just small things. Enough to bring someone back from the dead or to remove a vital piece of damning evidence from a murder.”  
“So it’s big enough of a deal to make it important,” Bin mused.  
“And dangerous.” Rocky added with a grin.  
Jinwoo smiled widely at them and said, “My pupils are learning. Finally!”  
“Just cause you’re our hyung doesn’t make you funnier than me.” Rocky muttered. The three of them headed out from under the trees and crossed the road towards the shop.  
“Just so you know, Bin, Dongmin is using an alias of Cha Eunwoo these days,” Rocky said quietly just before the three of them entered the shop. An alias? Bin wasn’t ready to see him again he didn’t think. But he wanted to help tarnish his reputation in any way he could, so that won out in the internal battle- they’d graduated college but Bin still felt like things had been left unsaid. Like ‘I’m still as good as you,’ for example.  
Bin read the small shop sign in the windowless door; ‘Gifts of Yeoksam’. Jinwoo had specifically said to them, in that slow, precise way of his, that they were to let him do the talking and the buying. He went in first, Rocky following and then Bin took a breath and stepped over the threshold.  
The shop was quaint and quiet at first glance. Warm egg yolk yellow sunlight filtered through the window and sagging shelves full of old leather-bound books, trinkets, ornaments, and household knick knacks lined the walls. The shop was covered in that musty smell of second-hand stores Bin had visited as a kid. The longer Bin looked at the shelves, he noticed that between the ordinary items, there were things that did most definitely not look ordinary or second hand. There were pieces of expensive looking jewellery and strange figures and models that looked completely alien to Bin. They all seemed as if they should be in a museum or a sleek store on the main streets of Gangnam. The warm sunlight had settled itself on the countertop at the other end of the shop and Bin would never have spotted the man sat with his legs propped up on the counter, leaning back in his chair had it not been for the shift of light. “Can I help you today gentlemen?” he asked and grinned at them enthusiastically when he made eye contact with Bin. He wondered where Dongmin was.  
Jinwoo looked up and walked towards the counter, smiling at the man behind it. “Well, there was one specific item I’d heard about-  
“Objects in this store have a very short-lived stay here usually, but I’d be happy to help?” The man leaned forward, swung his legs off the counter and then stood up, walked round the counter, all in one effortless movement. Bin shot a glance to Rocky, who looked the same as he felt: intimidated.  
“I’m Myungjun, by the way!” He smiled again, and his eyes lit up. Even though he looked like the friendliest man on earth, Bin sensed he had an ulterior motive. Perhaps he was on to them. “What’s the name of the particular object you’re here for?” He was bouncing slightly on the balls of his feet like he was warming up to exercise. Jinwoo answered. “It’s, ah, called a time sphere I think? I’ve only heard of it by word of mouth so it could be wrong, and I want it as a gift-“  
Bin zoned out on Jinwoo’s made up explanation and watched as Myungjun’s face darkened. He glanced over his shoulder to a door Bin hadn’t noticed before, as if he wanted to run straight through it but he stayed still, mouth frozen in his wide smile.  
Rocky started picking up items and then putting them back down again mindlessly- he could never stay still for too long. “We can talk in the back if you want? Come to an agreement there?” Jinwoo was saying, but Myungjun just shook his head once, smile still in place, and said; “I’m afraid that particular item isn’t for sale.”  
Jinwoo’s shoulders relaxed then; this must have been what he was waiting for, a chance for action, to show his authority. Rocky stopped picking things up and moved behind Jinwoo, blocking the doorway. Bin was starting to wish he hadn’t come at all if this was going to lead to trouble.  
“I see. I know this is probably crossing some boundaries, but might I ask why it’s not up for sale if it’s here?”  
“I’m sorry but-  
“Are you guys keeping it for yourself?” Bin asked, ignoring the look Jinwoo shot him. Myungjun visibly relaxed as if Bin had thrown him a line, and said “It’s a rare item- we wanted to know where it came from and how it works, I mean it’s not like we want to just sell something that could be disguised as a bomb to just anybody.” He chuckled loudly, and Rocky said, “that makes sense but you sure have no problem selling items to just anybody usually, do you?” He cocked his head, and Myungjun went pale.  
“Eunwoo, need a little help out here, please?” Myungjun called, and Jinwoo took the opportunity to leap at him and hold him to the counter by his collar. Bin rolled his eyes at Rocky, and Rocky muttered, “so dramatic,” in response. That was when Dongmin entered the room; flawless as ever, mouth pulled in a slight frown and hands in his leather jacket pockets- that was a new stance, Bin noticed with surprise- Dongmin had always been one to have something in his hands. He glanced at Jinwoo, then his eyes widened in surprise at Rocky and Bin’s presence, but that flicker of surprise, of recognition was gone in an instant, and a hard, simmering expression changed the man’s face. Something in Bin’s gut twinged uncomfortably. 

Things were about to get messy.


	4. Dongmin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dongmin just wanted to be Bin's friend in college but they were too competitive with each other, sigh

“Eunwoo, need a little help out here, please?” was the first thing Dongmin heard.   
He sighed, raked a hand through his hair and pocketed the little aquamarine sphere again. This ball of time was bringing nothing but trouble their way recently. “Sanha, get in there,” he told the younger man as he stood up. Sanha looked up from his laptop screen, and blinked as if he was completely zoned out; which knowing Sanha, he probably was, too engrossed in his work of documenting all magical items that they came across. Dongmin entered the shop front to see Jinwoo holding Myungjun by his collar. He wasn’t surprised to see him; although they’d never met in person, he’d been monitoring his activities in the agency. But he was surprised to see Rocky behind him and then Bin, his college nemesis. It was unexpected and his stomach took a dive in response. It wasn’t that he hated Bin, he would have happily been friends with him if Bin had let him, but Bin had made it clear from the beginning that the only chance of friendship they had was to be purely competitive.   
This was Dongmin’s problem. He always wanted to be perfect and the best at everything he put his mind to, and so naturally, Bin being always almost as good as he was in classes and their acting clubs, pushed Dongmin to strive harder to meet his goals. It was funny though; looking back, Bin was always stone cold towards Dongmin, so unbreakable, so unfathomable, but when Dongmin observed him with his own friends, his face was wide and open and as vulnerable as a puppy and he was always laughing. Something in Dongmin twinged uncomfortably at the memory of watching Bin laughing amongst his peers- without him. Why did he hate him so much? And how many months had it last been since he’d seen him? Breathed the same air as him?   
“What is going on here?” he said, loudly, formally, as if conducting an audience. Jinwoo didn’t even look up from staring down Myungjun, who in turn, was putting on a great act of whimpering and whinging. Dongmin knew that if he really wanted to, Myungjun could knock Jinwoo to the ground and get a headstart on running away, so he must’ve been enjoying making Jinwoo flex his muscles. But they were a team and it was right that they always had one another’s backs. “You have something that is government property and we’re here to collect it. I can make it nice and easy for you though.” Jinwoo said through gritted teeth.   
Rocky stepped forward and said, “If you give us the time sphere with no more hassle, we’ll report back to base that you just stumbled upon it. We’ll leave out the part where you’re running an illegal business selling magical items on the black market.”   
“It’s not the black market if we’re running our business legally through a licenced shop,” Sanha said, appearing behind Dongmin.   
“Details, details.” Rocky shrugged, and then held his hand out. “Give us the sphere. Government property.”   
“Is it really though? You guys are just a branch off of the government and make up your own rules don’t ya? Isn’t it more military property?” Myungjun managed to say whilst still keeping up the guise of whimpering. Jinwoo tightened his grip and Sanha said lazily, “Sorry, we need it for more important things.” Dongmin knew even without looking at him that he would be smiling shamelessly. He’d met Sanha and Myungjun fresh out of college, after being almost killed by a demon possessing a little boy, and after that experience, they’d became firm friends.   
“Come on guys, surely handing over a tiny ball that tells the time would be so much easier than being locked up yourselves?” Rocky said, whilst Bin muttered under his breath, “It’s way past lunchtime, I’m hungry. This is taking too long.”   
Dongmin smiled a little at the old memories resurfacing; countless times he’d seen Bin eating in class and across campus. Bin must have caught his expression because he narrowed his eyes, and   
instinctively Dongmin flinched a little at the aggressive gesture, hand tightening its hold on the time sphere. Bin followed his movements, eyes narrowing further.   
Ah, shit, he knows I’ve got it, Dongmin thought and swallowed thickly. “Can we at least keep this civil? Maybe set out terms for ownership? We really need it.” He pleaded with Rocky, the most placid of the three. It was true though, they did really need it.   
Rocky shook his head and said, “Maybe if this wasn’t work I could let it slide, but we can’t. Something’s gotta pay the bills.”   
“I have a full time stable job that pays the majority of our bills,” Bin hissed, and then Rocky laughed, which was exactly when Sanha leaned down to Dongmin and whispered, “Out the back, now.”   
He shoved past Dongmin, and Dongmin pelted through the ransacked storeroom that made their back office and out through the back door into the alley. He heard groans and yelling from behind him but he didn’t look back. No doubt they’d all be enjoying a little fight. He didn’t know where was safest to run to, but he didn’t stop running. He couldn’t. Not with their lives at stake. He ran past a Starbucks, which made him thirsty, and then a 7-Eleven. Oh, that could work.   
Surely Rocky and Jinwoo wouldn’t stoop so low as to cause a scene in a convenience store? He didn’t want them to know his address either and it was broad daylight, so he couldn’t really hang around looking suspicious. He went inside and pretended to browse the freezers but only so he could cool down after that run. He checked his phone a few minutes later. Nothing. He texted Sanha to ask what was going on, but didn’t expect an immediate reply.   
He needn’t have wasted his data though, because straight after pressing send, a pissed off looking Bin marched through the automatic doors. “I’m not even supposed to be working, just hand it over, please.” He said as he made his way towards him.   
Dongmin couldn’t resist the opportunity to tease. “Did you come to just see me then if you’re not supposed to be working?”   
Bin’s face reddened and he glowered at him. Dongmin smiled pleasantly, reached into the freezer for an ice cream- chocolate of course- and headed towards the till. Bin followed. “You guys keep saying you need it- why? Surely being honest would be more of a bargaining tool than to give us vague answers?”   
He chewed his lip whilst he thought of his response, all the while keeping a hand on the sphere, and watching Bin’s hands. They were big, but not in a beefy way, in a strong way; a strength that often gave way to gentleness- he’d seen Bin once playing with a kitten on campus. Sunlight lit his then black hair up like a halo and his smile was soft as he cooed at the little black and white animal, hands gently stroking its fur. Another insight into Bin’s real character. A character Dongmin had never got to know. Bin swept up a couple of packets of sweet potato crisps and made his way into the queue in front of Dongmin; meaning he’d be waiting outside for him.   
“It’s a matter of privacy. That’s why we wouldn’t tell you why we need it. But maybe we could give it you after?” He smiled at him, knowing it would wind him up. His kindness always did for some reason.   
“Sure, and when will that be?”   
“Probably imminently,” Dongmin replied, feeling suddenly reckless.   
“Okay then, since I can’t make a scene in public and not that I want to anyway-“   
“Because I’d win in a fight against you?”   
Bin ignored him and continued, “I’ll guess. I’ll guess why you need a time stopping sphere.”   
“We could be here for a while then.”   
Bin paid for his crisps, and thanked the cashier very kindly, told them to have a lovely day, and left her smiling brightly after him as he exited the store. See! It had happened again! Bin was only ever mean to Dongmin and the rest of the world thought he was an angelic puppycat.   
Puppycat? Where had that come from? Did he just call Bin a puppycat? What was wrong with him?   
“Next!” Gone was the cashier’s friendly smile as Dongmin snapped out of his thoughts about Bin and realised he’d kept a queue waiting.   
“Ah, sorry.”   
Outside Bin was leaning against the wall eating his crisps. Dongmin tried to walk off in the opposite direction, but Bin’s hand closed around his arm and tugged him to him. “Worth a try,” he smiled up at Bin.   
“Guess one,” Bin said through a mouthful, “You need to stop time to steal some other magical object.”   
“Nope.”   
“Stop time to take something off someone?”   
“Nope.”   
“Fast forward to the future to see how miserable your life really is so then you can come back and change it, like the champion you are at everything.”   
He scoffed at Bin. “You really have no idea how this works do you?”   
“I didn’t know of its existence until today.”   
“Okay I have a guess for you-“   
“That’s not how the game works!”   
“You hated me in college because I was better than you.”   
“This has nothing to do with college!” Bin protested, but the look in his eyes said otherwise.   
“I thought so. You were always kind to everyone but me.” Dongmin said softly, and Bin cast a stricken look at him. They both looked up after hearing a shout and saw Sanha, Myungjun, Rocky and Jinwoo running up the street towards them. Dongmin said “I didn’t mean to make you feel guilty.”   
“You didn’t. It’s true though, you always seemed so perfect, like you were on the verge of greatness, you had all these friends and had your life together.” The way he said it was like he was completely admiring Dongmin, and Dongmin tried to push the swell of giddiness at the compliment deep down inside him.   
“And now? What am I now?” He asked, but Bin’s eyes just travelled to the sphere. He was making a point, and a good, notable one at that. How had these two young ‘on the verge of greatness’ college   
grads found themselves in a life of chasing after magical objects that the rest of the world didn’t know about?   
It wasn’t that Dongmin hadn’t been unsuccessful in his auditions after college, it was that he couldn’t afford it, and he knew his parents would like whatever job he wanted, just so long as it was paying him enough that he had a roof over his head and food in his belly. And Dongmin was grateful, he really was, but it had meant that he’d become too caught up in this job- nestled in a space between reality and magic, the government and on the verge of being illegal- he couldn’t turn back.   
It was too late.   
“Bin, do you have it?” Rocky was suddenly upon them, out of breath, reaching for Bin’s crisps and then, outrageously, he passed the bag to Myungjun, who greedily took a handful.   
“Did you guys all kiss and make up or something?” Dongmin asked, staring at them all, pretty sure that they’d been fighting fifteen minutes ago.   
“About five minutes after Bin left to chase after you, I had a very interesting call,” Jinwoo said, also out of breath, sweat on his brow. “The agency is after us.”   
“What? But I didn’t even want to be involved in this!” Bin burst out, his forehead creasing in panic. Dongmin wanted to reach out to him, but he stayed still. A grey SUV pulled up next to the pavement on the opposite side of the road and they all noticed the blacked-out windows. It made Dongmin suddenly antsy to get back inside.   
“There are many ways to cheat the government,” Sanha said, a glint in his eye and he stuck a finger out, into their circle and wagged it dramatically. “It doesn’t change the fact they’re after us- if we hand over the time sphere, they’ll probably be more lenient, but if we keep it then, well…” He shrugged, a dark look crossing his face.   
“What exactly are they saying we’ve done wrong?” Bin asked.   
“It’s not all of us they want,” Jinwoo admitted, “it’s me. And the time sphere.”   
“For what?” Rocky asked, face a mask of concern.   
“I’ve been doing my own jobs, using government resources, and also I may have stolen some, um, magical artifacts for safe keeping, and they see everyone involved right now as working with me. The time sphere wasn’t even on their radar until now. Someone must have been onto me.”   
“Then why did you want it?” Dongmin asked.   
“Why do you want it?” Jinwoo fired back, and Dongmin closed his mouth, unable to answer. If he said it, it became real.   
Myungjun said, “He needs the time sphere to save his life.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the chapters will stay about this length from now on i think!! thank you for reading, i really appreciate it!


	5. Bin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which a truce is called

They were back at Gifts of Yeoksam, as it wasn’t safe for any of them to be by themselves if they were being followed. If it lasted longer than the weekend, Bin didn’t know what he’d tell work. He really wanted to keep this job. After their revelations, Dongmin had reluctantly explained that Sanha was a Seer- he had visions about people dying sometimes, and he’d seen Dongmin’s death in the near future. Jinwoo just wanted to add the time sphere to his collection, but they’d all seen the obvious solution; work together to save Dongmin, then Jinwoo could have the sphere.   
So now the six of them were working together, their plan of action was to get Jinwoo’s name cleared and also save Dongmin. Sanha had his laptop pulled up on the counter, meanwhile Rocky and Jinwoo had been sharing tactics on how to get around the agency tracing and chasing them, and Dongmin had silently been reading a spell book- looking for something to protect the shop against the people who were after them, and Myungjun had made lunch for everyone. Apparently, they owned the rooms upstairs and had a little kitchen and enough space to sleep in sleeping bags altogether later that evening. Myungjun handed a bowl of delicious looking bibimbap to Bin, who thanked him gratefully and basically inhaled the food. Aside from feeling slightly guilty that Dongmin knew he didn’t like him in college, he was feeling very much in the way and useless and it was making him anxious.   
“So you’re telling me that you can see into the future?” Rocky was leaning over the shop counter, eyes goggling at Sanha, who seemed a little flustered at the attention. “I’ve always been able to. Most often, the visions come to me in sleep. They aren’t always specific, but sometimes they are.”   
“Can you trust them? I mean, have the visions ever been wrong?” Bin smiled fondly at his best friend’s analytic side. He was constantly questioning things. Sanha shook his head. “Not massively. It’s a family trait so I’ve learnt a lot about it from my dad too.”   
No one asked Dongmin how Sanha had seen him die, it seemed as if it was a taboo to talk about it, but Bin could tell everyone was thinking about it; the atmosphere of the shop (closed for the day), had shifted from energetic to sombre. Only Myungjun seemed unaffected by this change though, and he was constantly firing flirtatious questions at Jinwoo. Jinwoo had rolled his eyes at each question, but Bin could tell when the man was nervous around other men, and Myungjun’s constant flirting was about to make him melt.   
With everyone occupied with their own tasks for the rest of the afternoon, Bin started to browse the shop, picking up items and popping them back down. He was flipping through a book about time and space that was written in English, when he spotted the grey SUV with blacked out windows parked across the street from them. His nervousness spiked, and he called, “How’s the spell to protect the shop coming along?”   
Dongmin was by his side in an instant. “They’ve been here before, and they were outside the 7Eleven earlier,” he murmured, “shit.”   
“Do you know who they are?” Bin asked as he turned his attention to his old foe. Dongmin’s eyes were tired, and his brow creased in thought. “No, they never get out the car, which makes me think that they’re my-“   
“Killers?” Bin finished for him. Damn, Dongmin was going to be murdered?   
“If it was the government, or a rival magical items seller, they would have raided the shop by now. Although that’s just a guess to keep my mind at ease. It could be either one of those.”   
Bin put his hand on Dongmin’s shoulder and squeezed slightly, although he didn’t know why he did it. “Well at least there’s more muscle here now to protect you.”   
“Protect me, huh?” Dongmin’s lip quirked. Bin felt a blush rising to his face, but he flexed his shoulder muscles anyway, eager to cheer Dongmin up, and said “Yep. Rocky and I have been working out. We could take whoever’s in that car.”   
Dongmin cast his eyes over to Rocky, gaze lingering a little too long on his legs. A stab of something unpleasant ricocheted around in Bin. He said, “Back in college, you did hate me as well didn’t you?”   
He felt stupid for saying it the minute it was out of his mouth, but he wanted Dongmin’s attention back on him. Dongmin turned his back to the window and said, “I didn’t hate you. I started to dislike you when you made it clear that anything between us would be strictly competitive, but in a way, that just pushed me harder to do better to meet my goals. It worked out for us didn’t it?” he asked with a wry smile.   
Bin sighed. “I was insecure- I admit that, and you just had your life together and were so good at everything, clearly I was your only competition, and it made me feel small for some reason, that wasn’t any of your fault.”   
He realised, with a jolt, that this was a new revelation- he had never thought deeply into this before. “I’m sorry, I only just realised that,” he said quietly, feeling a little ashamed but that was replaced by warmth when Dongmin smiled at him and said “No, it makes sense, don’t apologise.” His eyes turned into crescent moons when he smiled, and Bin found it so so cute.   
Wait. He found it cute? What was happening to him?   
“Should we call a truce?” Dongmin asked, and put his hand out, “whilst we’re working together, we should both agree to put the past behind us.”   
“Y-yeah, okay.”   
So they shook on it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay forget what i said about chapter lengths clearly i have no recollection of what i've written lmaooo. but again, thank you for reading!! i think we're getting to some of my fave soft binwoo scenes soon.....


	6. Dongmin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> enter the SOFT: 'They’d called a truce. So was fantasising about Bin’s hands in places they shouldn’t be, his soft smile, the way his hair settled on his forehead, because of it? Because he hadn’t had a crush in a while? Or was there, somewhere deep in his flimsy, quick, frightened heart, a real meaning to these thought patterns? '

Dongmin couldn’t sleep. Something about the time sphere was keeping his mind awake. Well either that, or the fact that he was fated to die a terrible death. No. Can’t think about that.   
Thinking about that would send him to his lowest point, so he analysed the sphere instead. It was in Sanha’s vision, on the ground down in the shop floor, and that’s what led them to go looking for it. The sphere changed colour at night, and right now it was deep purple. The cloudy numbers read 02:22 am. The rest of the men were in sleeping bags on the top floor- too dangerous for them to go back to their respective homes with people out looking for them. They still hadn’t figured out all of the intricacies of how the time sphere worked, and with each passing second, he knew time was draining.   
He rubbed his hand over his tired face,(his skin was getting bad) and looked around their little back of shop workroom/study/storage room. He sat in the low sofa that smelled of potato slightly, and the coffee table was littered with Sanha’s notes and spell books and drafts of his college thesis. They’d managed to put the spell on the shop front earlier, and it had made everyone but Dongmin more relaxed. He had three specific things on his mind. How he was going to die, how they were going to get the time sphere working, and strangely- curse his flimsy, quick, frightened heart, Moon Bin.   
They’d called a truce. So was fantasising about Bin’s hands in places they shouldn’t be, his soft smile, the way his hair settled on his forehead, because of it? Because he hadn’t had a crush in a while? Or was there, somewhere deep in his flimsy, quick, frightened heart, a real meaning to these thought patterns?   
He sighed again, tossed the tiny sphere in the air, but not high enough for it to break, and thought as it landed back on his steepled fingers, you know you’re going to die soon. You’re clinging to the idea of something you’ve never let yourself experience.   
That was the trouble with being unable to sleep; your demons were wide awake with you- and they weren’t fans of being gentle.   
Dongmin stood up, ready to march back up the stairs, but the time sphere caught his eye. It was growing brighter, and the numbers were pulsing. 2:30:01 AM. He brought his other hand to it, and through the gaps of his fingers, neon purple light pulsed, creating splinters of light fanning out into the room surrounding him. His heartbeat sped up. This was the first time it had been more active than it already was. He thought about going to wake the others up, but he didn’t want to miss a chance to figure out how to stop time. How to save himself.   
His grip tightened on the sphere. He took a breath and then whispered, “I want to stop time. I want to stop time. I want to stop-“   
The pulsing stopped and the ball grew cold in his hand. Dongmin slowly uncurled his fingers, like ferns in springtime, and read the time- cloudy black numbers this time in a sea of purple gas. The time read 2:33:48 am, but the seconds weren’t moving. He counted the rest of the seconds to the next minute, and then checked his phone. It read 2:33 am. He googled KST time; 2:33 am, and then googled times across the world- found out their minutes were still ticking by, but here in South Korea, time had stopped. The phone slid from his hand, and he stared at the space around him, noticing spotted headlights through the window in the front of the shop, and as he moved closer, saw that the car was frozen in motion in the middle of the road, headlights bleeding a white trail behind them.   
“Okay,” he said shakily. “Okay. Okay. I want time to start up again.” The sphere’s light began pulsing again, and Dongmin watched in amazement as the time skipped to 2:37 am. He’d stopped time in South Korea for a whole four minutes. Four minutes could be enough to save a life. His life.   
But how to rewind it? How to speed it up? Or maybe it just simply stopped time. Surely that was blessing enough, some higher god had let this ball fall to their cruel world to gift humanity a few minutes leeway for whenever they needed it.   
Thoughts were racing through his mind, he needed to write it all down, needed to tell Sanha and Myungjun about this new development. But the one thing that had stood out to him was that he willed it. For once in his life, a life in which he’d pushed himself countless times to the limit, ending him up in this liminal space between the horror of the ordinary and the horrors of the magic. And god, it wasn’t like he’d sought those horrors. He’d had a whole life set out for him, but he’d run into magic. And that was the end of it.   
But now, holding the time sphere, an object that had answered his prayers, he thought that maybe, rather than the end of it, it was the beginning instead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the time sphere WORKS!!! hope you enjoyed!


	7. Bin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> mucho binwoo softness OR 3am is a good time to talk about your deepest worries with your old college nemesis

Bin couldn’t sleep, so he wiggled out of the musty sleeping bag that was slightly too small for him (he didn’t know how Sanha was curled up in one, he was a tall giant), and stepped over Rocky and Myungjun’s sleeping bodies, and padded down the stairs. For what, he didn’t know. Just space to move and think on his own, probably, but he ran into Dongmin. He was stood, staring at the time sphere and he was- oh gosh- he was crying.   
Bin said, quietly, “Are you okay?”   
Dongmin startled, and the sphere ended up in the air between them. “Shit!” he cursed and grabbed for it, but Bin stepped forward and picked it out the air before it could hit the ground. This was the first time Bin had been able to study the thing up close, and he saw that the others were right, the time and the colour surrounding it really was like gas.   
Dongmin snatched it out his hand and hugged it to his chest. “Oh, I wasn’t- I was just looking, Dongmin.” He said quietly.   
The other sniffed, and replied, “That was rash of me, sorry. I just-   
He took a breath, and then smiled, “I just stopped time. For a full four minutes. All over South Korea, time stopped for four minutes.”   
“That’s wild- how did you do it?”   
“I just willed it. For the first time in my life, something was just given to me…” he trailed off and looked off into the shadows in the corner of the room. Suddenly curious, Bin asked, “is that why you were crying?”   
Dongmin pulled a face, embarrassed and said, “happy tears,” then fell silent.   
Bin nodded and said “mmm. So this is good news right? It’s progress.”   
He felt that at before 3AM in the morning, it would be prime time to ask Dongmin how he was going to die- it was probably the thing that was keeping him up, but he didn’t want to ruin his mood. He was crying happy tears, for goodness sake, he wanted to keep him in his bubble. It seemed that his previously eager thoughts of being able to ruin Dongmin’s reputation had vanished.   
“Why are you awake?” Dongmin asked quietly, looking at the sphere. It was illuminating his face in lilac light, and some stray locks of hair had fallen in front of his forehead. He looked angelic. Bin rubbed his hair, and it was nearly 3AM after all, never a more perfect time for the absolute truth when you’ve called a truce with your college nemesis. He said, “I, um, get nervous quite a lot at night. Tonight I’m worried about my job. If this whole situation keeps up and I can’t go to work, what am I going to do? I don’t want to lose it.” Then he realised what had just come out of his mouth, talking about trivial problems to a man who knew how he died. “God, that was selfish of me, I’m sorry.”   
Dongmin shook his head and said, “No it wasn’t.”   
“It wasn’t?”   
“We all have different problems, and none of them should invalidate another- especially if it’s keeping you up at night. Do you want some chamomile tea? It’s supposed to be good for sleep.”   
Oh. What was his heart doing?   
“You’re…so rational.” Bin chuckled, and then said, “And yes please, to the tea.”   
“Where do you work?” Dongmin asked, filling the kettle and rustling in a cupboard for the mugs and teabags. “I’m an assistant at a photography studio, but they pay well, and I can work my way up from there- I want to own my own studio one day.”   
Dongmin smiled, said, “I remember you taking photos in college a lot. I didn’t realise that’s what you wanted to do.”   
“I didn’t until right before the end of college. But I’m a perfectionist, I like detail- I like the world and its beauty and hidden meanings, it fits me well.” Saying it made him remember how passionate he was about it.   
“It does suit you very well,” Dongmin murmured.   
“Uh, thanks.” Bin said, suddenly all flustered. For some reason that confirmation had meant a lot to him.   
“We can find a protection spell for you, you know- I’m sure Sanha wouldn’t mind. You weren’t meant to be caught up in this, and I don’t want you to lose what you’ve worked so hard for because of me.”   
“Dongmin- I- I’m touched, thank you. But it isn’t just because of you, Rocky and Jinwoo and this whole agency are as much to blame.”   
“Mhmm.”   
“So why Eunwoo?” He asked him, once his tea had cooled enough for him to drink. He relished the warm scent of it and let it waft in his face until he got too hot.   
“It was going to be my actor name. But I failed a lot of auditions, and then, well I got caught up in this.” He gestured to the room around him.   
“You can try again after this though, right?”   
He laughed then and said, “I’m not so confident that there’s going to be an after though.”   
Bin blinked- his nemesis, extremely good looking, perfect, determined, loved, amazing- wasn’t confident?   
“You’ve just stopped time with that thing. If the world, if fate, if whatever it is in the universe controlling the paths of our lives- if that wanted you dead, I’m sure it wouldn’t have let you stop time with a time sphere.”   
Dongmin looked up from his mug of tea, and his lips parted. “You really think so?”   
“I’ve never been more certain in my life. You’re the best at everything, you’ve got to be better at life than me.”   
Dongmin’s eyes crinkled into crescent moons, and his smile filled his whole face, the whole room, when he laughed at the remark.   
“I thought we were on truce.”   
“We are, and I could have been much more harsh just then.”   
Dongmin rolled his eyes with a slight smile, “fair point.”   
Bin wanted to reach out right in that moment and pull his old nemesis into a hug. “Do you wanna know how it’s going to happen?” Dongmin breathed out, words tumbling after one another, as if he hadn’t meant to say it. Bin turned his face so he was facing him fully and saw the fear in his eyes.   
This time, he did reach out his arm, and placed his hand on Dongmin’s slightly shaky forearm. “We’re going to save your life,” he said, to reassure him again.   
Dongmin nodded, once. “There’s just…so much blood. All of it mine.” He placed his mug gently on the countertop behind him, rubbed his forehead, then folded his hands under his arms, looking down at his bare feet.   
He deliberated on whether Dongmin would like it, think it was okay, if he did pull him into that hug. It was surely too friendly? But he went for it, hand finding Dongmin’s shoulder and pulling him into his chest in two motions.   
“The others don’t get it,” Dongmin started, voice choked, “Sanha was born with this magic, and Myungjun has seen so much death already, but it’s going to happen here, in this building Bin, and the shop floor is just going to be- soaked in m-my blood.”   
“Hey, shhhh. You don’t have to talk about it now, don’t let it get it to you.” He was now rocking a crying Dongmin to his chest and although he was worried for him, a part of him revelled in the action- as if it was what he was always meant to do.   
“Let’s go to sleep okay? It’s late.” Five minutes later, he led him up the stairs, moved his sleeping bag next to his, and watched him until he was sure he was asleep. All the while, the time sphere pulsed softly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the last chapter I'm posting today!! stay tuned for time sphere action and mayhap....just maybe...a kiss   
> thanks for reading!!


	8. Dongmin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bin gets a lil bit upset and Dongmin has a lil bit of a Realisation, whilst Sanha just looks cool and sleek lmao

“Okay, so I willed it.” Dongmin said.   
“You willed it?” Rocky sent him a sceptical glance, whilst Myungjun spun the ball in his hands.   
“Well…yeah, I think I asked for it to stop time and then start time as I was willing it too.” Dongmin said helplessly. He didn’t know how to better explain, and Bin seemed perfectly satisfied with that explanation, why weren’t the others? Thinking of Bin made him think of the night before, the panic rising when he pictured the blood, and Bin’s hand on his arm, Bin’s arm round him, leading him up the stairs, his eyes on him until he fell asleep. It made his breath hitch, and he knew he shouldn’t be chasing this thrill when he could possibly die at any point, and that by giving into these feeling could end up hurting the both of them if he did die. But he kept picturing it all anyway. What did Bin’s gentleness mean?   
Sanha’s sudden presence in the back room snapped Dongmin’s attention back to the present. He was holding a heavy book, flat open in one hand and leaning against the door frame in one of his silk vampire shirts. “There’s just one problem.”   
Dongmin’s hopes dropped further.   
“Dongmin, in my vision, the time sphere is there. So if you can control the sphere then that leads to the question- what went wrong? Did you not will it to stop time or reverse time? Did it glitch?”   
“How am I supposed to know that? It was your vision!” Dongmin pointed at him, but he didn’t mean the accusation.   
“Could your vision just be one version of time, Sanha?” Jinwoo asked, from his corner of the room. He was drinking coffee and doing something on a laptop he’d borrowed off Myungjun.   
“It’s possible, although rare, but it’s the only thing we have to go off right now-“   
“So we should be completely prepared with this version of the vision.” Myungjun finished.   
Sanha nodded gratefully at him. “I think we should all try and see if we can control the sphere,” Bin said to many startled faces, but he continued, “that way if we know for sure that only Dongmin can use it, it makes the job of learning to control easier since it would only be him doing it. Meaning we can focus on the other stuff.”   
“Oh, brill idea Bin,” Rocky slapped his knee with a smile on his face.   
Myungjun scrunched his face up in concentration for three minutes and then said, “I give up- it doesn’t like me,” with a pout, and passed the sphere to Jinwoo. Jinwoo passed it from left hand to right, and Dongmin thought if anyone else would be able to control the sphere, it would be him. He knew his stuff, and he seemed to have a caring heart; he was always looking after whoever he was working with, and it was no different with Rocky or Bin.   
But…nothing. And then Rocky tried, and Sanha, and lastly Bin, and they all got nothing.   
Dongmin’s heart sank further. “Maybe it only works at specific times?” Rocky suggested, and Bin snorted and said “that would defeat the object of the being able to change time.”   
“Oh yeah,” Rocky said with a sheepish grin. “Can we go through the vision again?” Jinwoo asked Sanha. Sanha met Dongmin’s eyes, full of uncertainty.   
Dongmin swallowed. Hearing it won’t be as bad as seeing it, he told himself and then nodded, “Go ahead.”   
Sanha looked down at the yellowing pages of the book as he spoke. “I think it’s night time, and then suddenly, the doors break down and there’s a tonne of people in the shop, but I just see it as a blur of movement and shouting- and Dongmin is in the middle of it, holding the time sphere which then ends up on the floor, and then I see Myungjun and Jinwoo in the corner of the room, and then Dongmin gets shot in the head, and then the vision ends.”   
Dongmin met Sanha’s eyes, and he mouthed ‘sorry’ to him, but Dongmin just shook his head and looked at the floor.   
“Wait, wait- Jinwoo’s here when it happens?” Bin asked, standing up suddenly. Then it dawned on Dongmin. He’d been so focused on the fact he was going to die that he hadn’t given a second thought to Jinwoo being here with them.   
It could only mean-   
“The people who kill Dongmin, they’re the ones after Jinwoo and Rocky and I right?” Bin’s expression was frantic. “We have to leave- we can’t risk being here if it’s going to kill Dongmin!”   
“How could you just let us stay here?” He faced off with Sanha, and Rocky and Jinwoo stood up too, gazes flicking between the two.   
“It’s all right.” Dongmin said quietly, but Sanha was shaking his head. “Hyung, you don’t know how these visions work like I do. I’m the one who’s been plagued with them my entire life- so don’t question me on this-“   
“But you’ve seen him die!” Bin cried.   
“Even if you left, the vision would stay the same! Dongmin would still get shot in the head. You think I really haven’t tried everything? The more you try to prevent a vision from coming true, the more likely it is to happen. So how dare you, you who didn’t even want to be involved in any of this in the first place, accuse me of not caring about my best friend enough.” Sanha was panting, and his eyes were bright with anger, and his fists were clenched, but Dongmin saw how hard he was trying not cry, and he realised then- that Sanha did get it.   
He had been plagued with this vision over and over as he slept, of Dongmin dying. Knowing you were going to die soon was one thing, but being the person to originally find it out, that must be something else.   
Dongmin stood up and swept his tall friend into a hug. Sanha’s fists became hands again, and Dongmin whispered, “I’m your best friend?”   
“You and Myungjun, yeah.” Sanha said back. Dongmin patted him on the back and let go.   
“This is my death we’re talking about,” he addressed the six of them, “and if we want to get these people off our trail and carry on with our lives as usual, then we’re going to have to figure out a way that the time sphere could be used for stopping them. And maybe that will help save my life.”   
“Sounds like this plan calls for food!” Myungjun said, and jumped up. “I’ll help,” Sanha said and followed him through to the little kitchen.   
Bin got up and walked into the shop floor, which was still closed. Dongmin sat up straight, unwilling to let himself feel guilty. Sanha and Bin’s outburst had shown that they cared for him, and none of this was anyone’s fault.   
After a few minutes of silence Rocky asked, “Do you think it’s safe to go outside yet?” with his hands loosely laced together in his lap.   
“Well, we don’t exactly know who the people tracking us are,” Jinwoo said.   
A chord struck in Dongmin’s soul. It was the anonymity he didn’t like about this. It wasn’t like it was someone he knew that was going to shoot him. Maybe if it was, he’d be able to wrap his head around their motives and reasons why- maybe he’d be able to forgive. But the fact someone who was after an object was going to kill him, without a second thought probably with the idea that this object was more important to them than Dongmin’s own life. That made him feel deeply bitter and panicked. That meant they were dangerous.   
“Dongmin?” Jinwoo had a question in his eyes, and his open face had clouded with an expression Dongmin thought to be guilt.   
“Yeah?”   
“If Sanha’s vision, if all of what could happen to you is because of me, I am truly truly sorry. I hope you know that.” He stood up and made off as if to go into the kitchen, but when Dongmin eventually cobbled his words together, for he hadn’t been expecting an apology, he said “Jinwoo, it’s not your fault. At all. Sanha’s visions usually predict a death when a death is going to happen anyway. I guess it’s just my time.” He smiled at the other man, but Jinwoo’s eyes just widened.   
“No, no no. It isn’t your time at all. You’re twenty-three. We’re going to change this.” Rocky was stood up now, and his face was all stubborn lines.   
“But I-“   
“No, Dongmin, I’ve known you since college, I’m not going to see you die before you’ve had a full on fist fight with Bin.”   
Jinwoo sniggered at that as he left the room, and Dongmin found himself laughing too. And then it hit him . Sanha’s vision only focused on him, but it didn’t mean it was just him that could be hurt by these people. If the others were there then they could get hurt too.   
And so, he had to figure out how the time sphere worked. He had to figure it all out before the doomed day arrived, because it wasn’t just his life in danger now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry i didn't update yesterday! It was my girlfriend's birthday, but i hope you enjoy this chapter :)


	9. Bin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> shit gets real

It had been three days and Bin’s concepts of himself were unravelling. Dongmin had never hated him, and yet Bin had been convinced for nearly four years that he had. What was up with that?   
It was like his photography; he never took photos of people for his professional work because he’d hate to have to pose and model and be the subject of such scrutiny, and he didn’t want to put people through that when there was enough of it in real life.   
How much of these preconceptions did Bin have to unpick?   
And once he’d done that, where would that leave him?   
Would he fall apart?   
He thought about the nights in college where Rocky had had stop him from going to bed at four pm and when he had to write home to his family when Bin was too lucked out on stress and anxiety to cope with it.   
He’d looked after Rocky too, but Bin knew he’d always been higher maintenance than the other and he would be forever grateful for Rocky’s help. And Bin knew it was selfish getting caught up in the mechanisms of his own brain when Dongmin was facing a threat bigger than life itself.   
He knew. And yet, in the early morning hours, or the skulking trips to get groceries or when he wasn’t needed in the time sphere stuff, he let his mind drift, picking at endless metaphorical scabs.   
“I didn’t think you’d be so strong, you know.” Sanha came and joined him at the shop counter (they’d had to reopen for income, and so that they didn’t look suspicious).   
“Hm?”   
“I mean if I’d only heard your voice, I’d think you were the softest puppy around- but when you were practicing with Rocky earlier- you surprised me.”   
Softest puppy?   
“I’ll take that as a compliment?” he said and Sanha giggled. A young woman entered the shop and started browsing the bookshelf at the far end of the shop. Sanha gave her an unwavering gaze before placing his attention back on Bin. “So you hated Dongmin in college and now you’re intent on helping saving his life?” It wasn’t that Bin was scared of Sanha; he just gave off a slightly unhuman vibe, which Bin was putting down to the magic he possessed, and it was quite scary at times.   
“We’re on a truce. I didn’t hate him enough to want him dead, Sanha.”   
Sanha nodded and said, “just checking.”   
Bin gave him a cross look but then said, “So how is it going with the time sphere? We’ve been practicing nonstop for the last two days but we’ve not had-   
“Any results, I know.” Sanha finished for him. They both watched the eager shopper, who had piled four books in one arm, and then Sanha said, “that’s what’s worrying me. It’s almost as if he’s not determined enough.   
“If the stopping of time, or reversing or fast forwarding it has to be willed, then Dongmin isn’t willing it hard enough. And I don’t know why. This isn’t the time to be playing with fire. With his own life. Ah, sorry Bin. I’m just really stressed about it- I’ve been getting the vision night after night and when that happens it usually means it’s coming much closer to reality.”   
“I understand, and you don’t have to apologise, you didn’t ask to carry this power. But I’ll talk to Dongmin.”   
“Your arch nemesis?”   
“We’re on a truce!” 

Two hours later, he and Myungjun and Dongmin stood around the time sphere. Jinwoo was minding the shop whilst Sanha and Rocky had gone out to get supplies for a spell which Sanha thought might make Dongmin and the sphere’s connection tighter. Everyone knew it was a risky move but at this point, with the knowledge that Dongmin could die at any moment now, it was worth it.   
“What are we doing?” Bin asked, watching Dongmin carefully. Today, he seemed different. There was less of a weight in his eyes, and he seemed unfocused. Sanha was right.   
“Nothing is working. Perhaps it has to be in the moment,” Dongmin shrugged this off easily, picking the time sphere up and pocketing it, and giving a small smile. Bin fought the urge to shout at him- he wasn’t a shouty person- but when it came to seeing his better half give up so damn easily, shouting was warranted. Dongmin stood up and said, “I’m going out the back to get some fresh air. I need a break.”   
Myungjun said a few seconds after he’d gone, “Maybe for reversing time, or fast forwarding it, you have to do something more specific than to will it?”   
“That would make sense, but I think the sphere is connected to Dongmin in a way that we don’t get yet. Maybe it knows he’s going to die- or that he needs to use it.”   
Myungjun chewed his lip, then said quietly, “I really don’t want him to…. go. He’s made my life so much better, he’s such a big dreamer, but he also knows when you need to be set feet first onto the ground with your head out of the clouds. It’s like he’s constantly giving love and knowledge and friendship out and I,” then he shook his head, and folded his arms and tilted his right back- supposedly to drain the tears that had started to form. It was strange to see him so vulnerable; he was always so energetic and smiley in the days Bin had gotten to know him.   
Bin didn’t know what to say. “What are you going to do after this Moon Bin?”   
The question took him aback, and he thought back to his conversation with Rocky only four days ago. “I don’t know. Carry on- I still want to be photographer, I called in sick to work. What’s happening here is a life changing event, I think, but I can let things happen to me and not have them   
change me too much. I’m getting better at that. Oh sorry, that was probably TMI,” he chuckled nervously, surprised at himself for being so deeply honest.   
“No, it’s fine, it’s okay- I’m glad you’re not getting stuck in a life like this.”   
“Do you think you’re stuck?”   
Myungjun just shook his head with a wry smile, then said “I can’t lose Dongmin, Bin. Don’t let him go.”   
He reached up to pat Bin’s shoulders on his way into the shop.   
Don’t let him go.   
Dongmin was still outside and Bin decided it was time to talk to him. The afternoon air was sticky with humidity and the sky was a cloudless grey, lethargic weather. Under a sky like this, it was impossible to think of any progress happening.   
“You’re acting weird,” Bin said and came to stand beside him. Dongmin was staring at the ivy clad concrete wall that marked the end of the shop’s outdoor space and also the protective spell.   
“It might not just be me. Sanha only saw me die, but we’re all going to be here. What if one of us gets seriously hurt? What if Sanha wasn’t able to envision another death that happened? Bin, I have to make this work- it’s not just about me anymore.” Dongmin’s eyes were pleading.   
Oh, so that was it. Bin sat down on the doorstep and after a moment said, “take this from an incessant worrier- you’re worrying too much. I bet that’s what’s stopping you changing time.” An idea had struck him.   
“But-“   
“Can you hold out the sphere for me to see?”   
Dongmin took the now aquamarine sphere out of his pocket and held it in front of Bin’s face. Bin startled; he wasn’t expecting it so close, but he recognised the stubborn bitterness in Dongmin’s face, his pleading eyes, recognised it as an old friend, someone being consumed by worry. Dongmin needed to get out of his head.   
The time wasn’t clear to read in the sphere because its sea clear colour had become cloudy. “See hyung? I have to squint to see the time. That night you stopped time, the sphere was clear wasn’t it? You willed it because your head was clear, you weren’t worried, but instead, you were certain of yourself. You were Lee Dongmin, Cha Eunwoo, levelheaded and determined. You need to be that version of yourself in order to help yourself and us.”   
Bin rose as he said those words, and he closed his hand over the sphere, fingers touching Dongmin’s where they held it from beneath. Dongmin met his eyes and said, “I heard what you said to Myungjun about your life after this and it got me thinking, if I survive- what’ll happen to my life afterwards? Who do I become?”   
Forgiving him for eavesdropping, Bin said, “you don’t have to think about that yet- this isn’t college, and we can work that out after this happens, that’ll be your next hurdle, kay?”   
“We?” Dongmin’s eyes were wide, and his face was a completely open book. Bin swallowed. “We could have an…extended truce?”   
There it was. The crinkle, the crescent moon eyes as his smile overtook his features. “I’d like that.”   
Discussing this whilst both of them were holding onto the sphere, and each other’s hand, it felt like an oath. An oath, Bin found, that he was ready to take. He wanted more of Dongmin.   
The moment would have lasted longer had it not been for Sanha and Rocky scrambling over the back wall at the same time. Bin rushed forwards to help Rocky, whilst Dongmin got Sanha. “What’s going on?”   
“I told you it was too dangerous. Ah fuck.” Rocky said as he half fell off the wall and into Bin. Then he proceeded to pace in a circle on the tiny, weedy lawn.   
Sanha drew his knees up to his face, a comedic sight for someone who was 90% legs. “I think they’re coming. I think they saw us. I think it’s happening today.”   
Dongmin stared at him opened mouthed. “I thought you said it happened at night!” Rocky burst out, panic filling his face. Bin grabbed his arm, and said quietly, “breathe. Keep moving but remember to breathe.” Rocky nodded and took a breath.   
“I thought it happened at night too but-“   
“Doesn’t matter. If they’re coming, they’re coming, and we have to be ready.” Bin said, and offered his hand to Sanha who took it, and he pulled him to his feet.   
“There are at least ten blacked out SUV’s parked outside, I think it’s happening.” Jinwoo said from the doorway, holding a gun Bin didn’t know he had.   
He looked over at Dongmin, who was studying the sphere, suddenly thankful he’d been able to help him.   
It was time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 2 more chapters to go after this!!!! see y'all tomorrow for the final updates :)


	10. Dongmin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ‘Lee Dongmin, Cha Eunwoo- level headed and determined. You need to be that version of yourself in order to help yourself and us.’- time for ACTION!

It was time.   
‘Lee Dongmin, Cha Eunwoo- level headed and determined. You need to be that version of yourself in order to help yourself and us.’   
Bin’s sensible words kept ringing through his head. All of his friends had weapons except him because there weren’t enough to go around. Jinwoo had opted for a gun and a crowbar, and Rocky had two switchblades, Myungjun had a gun, and Sanha had a long knife and his spells. Bin had insisted he’d be fine with his fists, which Dongmin highly doubted, but he kept reminding himself that it wouldn’t get to that point.   
He was going to be clear headed. He was going to stop time.   
“I’ll go first,” Jinwoo said, “I’m the person they want so it makes sense. Bin I want you behind me, Rocky and Myungjun and Sanha, stay on either side of Dongmin and stay in the back of the shop okay?” Dongmin didn’t like the idea of them putting themselves in the frontline before him. Hadn’t Sanha told them they couldn’t change the fact he was going to come close to getting shot?   
“Who made you boss?” Sanha grumbled, hastily readying a vial with ingredients for a spell. “Do you have any better ideas Sanha? We weren’t prepared for military formation.” Jinwoo snapped at him. “Let me come up front with you, I’m working on a way to make the agency forget all about us.”   
Dongmin looked at the sphere again. 14:22 pm. He took a breath, and then looked up to find Bin looking at him. One side of his lip quirked up, and he mouthed, “You got this.”   
Then the first formation marched out into the still empty shop. Myungjun said, “If we survive this, we’re going out for drinks, and you’re buying all our rounds.”   
“That’s fine by me.”   
“This is my best sweatshirt and I don’t want to ruin it with your blood.” He huffed, but his eyes were full of humour. “Did you wear it to impress Jinwoo?” Dongmin teased.   
“Hey!” he laughed and smacked Dongmin’s arm. That was a yes, then.   
“They’re getting out of their cars,” Rocky murmured from the shop doorway, “They’re in full getup- protective gear and gunmen. Oh there’s a woman in a suit leading them, I think.”   
“How many?” Dongmin asked, his mood suddenly flipping. His heartbeat kicked up a notch, and he felt the blood draining from his face. Come on. I’ve dealt with Grave Demons, with evil sprites, and gangs trying to use magic to blow their enemies brains out. In this world, I am Cha Eunwoo, chaser of rogue magic, and I can do this.   
“I want to say there’s like fifteen of them.” Dongmin couldn’t believe that he was going to be shot by government agents.   
“You sure that sphere stops time for everyone?” Myungjun said weakly.   
Dongmin gave him a cutting look; it wasn’t like him to be so fearful. And it wasn’t the time to let fears get the better of them, Bin had taught him as much. “It stopped time for the whole of South Korea.”   
Then the shouts came, and a loud demanding voice rang out. “I am here for the collection of the illegal object the Time Sphere and Park Jinwoo, government agent gone rogue.”   
“I’m here.”   
“And the sphere?”   
Silence. Dongmin wished he could see what was happening.   
“If you come easily, then this will get dealt with easily as well. And I like my job to be easy.”   
“I don’t have the sphere on my person. Search me.”   
“Then who does?” one of the men barked out. Dongmin felt the sphere pulse in his hands again, like it had the night he’d stopped time.   
He was the level headed and determined version of himself; he wouldn’t run from his fate. He wouldn’t put his friends in danger either, and if he had the chance to face his fate, he’d face it head on.   
He didn’t spend another minute thinking about it, just pushed past Rocky and ignored the looks of horror Jinwoo and Sanha gave him, and held the sphere out, instead focusing on the armed men and women in big crash helmets. “After this?”   
The woman in the suit tutted and exclaimed, “It’s only that small? Then why do we need waste money on a team so big? This fucking job, I swear-“   
“You’re not going to be able to use it,” Jinwoo said, and cocked his gun. Immediately two of the armed men surged forwards, but Jinwoo shot at both of them, grazing their limbs.   
Bin stepped backwards, towards Dongmin, and the suited woman screamed, “Get the ball!” Three men leaped past Bin, shoving him into the window, and suddenly Myungjun and Rocky were on their way to help Jinwoo out of the gunmen’s arms, swinging their weapons with a battle cry. With the force of all of them jostling him in the small space, the sphere rolled out of Dongmin’s hand and kept spinning and spinning, until it came to rest under the woman’s booted foot. Books and trinkets were falling from the shelves in small crashes. All of a sudden, a gunman punched Dongmin in the nose, and his vision went blurry. He tried to writhe his way out of their grip, the vision of a bullet entering his skin without a safety net forming clearly in his mind. His nose was bleeding. This was how easily he lost.   
“Please don’t,” he pleaded to the woman in charge.   
“You know, you’re a drain on our agencies resources- doing our jobs for us, mostly better than us half the time- but I’m going to dispose of you all anyway,” she said.   
She reached into her jacket and pulled out a golden pistol, and a slow grin formed on her face. Then she looked downwards, a glint in her eyes, brought her leg up as if to slam it back down onto the sphere. Was she really going to break it?   
“Ma’am, ma’am!” One of the gunmen rushed forward and said, “We’ve talked about this- the object under your foot is needed, you can’t squash it, ma’am.”   
There was a pause, and Dongmin watched the time change. 14:27 pm. The others were still struggling with the gunmen, throwing punches, and ending up in headlocks, and the woman stared at the time sphere under her foot as if she was frozen.   
Then she blinked and looked around as if remembering her surroundings, and a slow smile spread across her face again. “Of course, you’re right. It’s him I’m going to dispose of.”   
Without a moment’s warning, she fired the gun.   
The anonymous gunman lifted his body further to take the shot.   
Dongmin watched the bullet fly straight towards his head.   
He didn’t even get to use his chance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> one more chapter to go!! if Dongmin can't use the time sphere to save himself, who will?........
> 
> (also i've been reading back over this and i think i get ASTRO's dynamics down pretty well haha)


	11. Bin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 'The room was still lit up from within with the warm green light from the sphere, and it shaded Dongmin’s face in an evergreen that Bin wanted to get lost in.'
> 
> WE'RE GETTING SOFT!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The last chapter!! thank you to anyone who's read this, and i hope you've enjoyed. (more of this in the notes at the end).
> 
> If you want to find me on any socials, I am @sparklyastro1 on twitter (for astro lols), and my writing insta is @finding_ophelia

Bin realised Dongmin was going to get shot just moments before the trigger was pulled. And he would have held his breath if Dongmin had the time sphere, but oh god, he didn’t. Luckily the woman in charge seemed fixated on squashing the sphere with her foot, so Bin acted fast.  
Dongmin couldn’t die. Not when they were on a truce, not when he was so good at everything and so good to everyone around him. Not when Bin wanted to hold his hand. He elbowed the gunman  
holding him in the face and then dived across the floor, just as the gun was fired. He felt as if he were reaching into the dark, but his hand closed around the sphere and the bullet pulsed through the air, on its course to shoot Dongmin.  
He didn’t have time to get the sphere to Dongmin. So he willed as hard as he could. He willed time to stop. Bin realised in that moment that even now he knew Dongmin had never hated him, he couldn’t go back and change it, and that it was the choices he’d make now or in the future that would count. He’d been unpicking so much of himself recently but between a choice of life or death- the answer was always simple, choose the one that matters. Right now, it was life for Dongmin obviously. He had a chance to change their relationship and the way they saw each other, and he wanted it.  
He whispered out into the universe, “I know I’m not yours but please let me stop time. Don’t let me let him go, let me save him. Please.”  
Green light grew underneath his hand, and when he moved it, it spilled out into the room. He blinked away the brightness and read the time; 14:28:09 pm. The seconds weren’t moving. He looked up, and everyone around him was frozen, funny expressions on their faces. Rocky looked hilarious.  
He stood up in a hurry and launched himself at Dongmin, in the bullets path. He’d done it.  
There it was, hovering just inches away from Dongmin’s head. He plucked the bullet of the air, a heavy warm thing. Then he felt the air around him, to make sure his eyes weren’t missing anymore loose bullets.  
Finally, Bin turned to face him with a grin. Dongmin’s eyes filled with tears. “You saved me.”  
“Lets get you out of here.” He began untangling the frozen gunman’s arms from around Dongmin and then pulled him into a hug when he was free. He was shaking so Bin asked, “Are you okay?” and pulled back and studied his face.  
“I didn’t realise it would happen that fast, or that it wouldn’t be me, or that I’d get so scared.” He laughed, an embarrassed smile filling his face, then he placed both his hands on Bin’s face, “thank you. I can’t ever thank you enough. I thought I had it in the bag, but for you to make the choice to save me when you didn’t have to…just, thank you.” The room was still lit up from within with the warm green light from the sphere, and it shaded Dongmin’s face in an evergreen that Bin wanted to get lost in.  
Bin had the sudden urge to lean in and kiss him. But now that he he was safe, he could maybe save it for a more romantic setting.  
“You don’t need to thank me. We’re on a truce remember?”  
“What about after we end it?”  
“I don’t think we need to end the truce.”  
Dongmin’s face lit up, and he said, “then that means I can do this,” and pulled Bin’s face down to meet his lips. The kiss was sudden, and so adrenaline filled that it made Bin completely dizzy. He wondered why he hadn’t realised that kissing Dongmin would have been a good idea instead of hating him in college all along.  
“Erm, I assume you were hoping that that was a private moment between the two of you, but I can see everything. Can you keep time stopped for a little longer please?” Sanha said, whilst wiggling his  
way out of the grip of two bulky men who had been about to smash his face in. “Sanha!” Dongmin pulled away from Bin and went to help him, whilst Bin picked up the sphere. “Wait- how are you both not frozen?”  
“Well, Dongmin is the one being saved and I have a task to do,” Sanha replied vaguely, shooting a dirty look to the woman holding the pistol. He pulled out a clear vial of pills and said, “the pills are spelled to make you forget. I’m going to give them to our visitors, so when they turn and walk out of here in a minute- they won’t remember that they were ever after us and the sphere.”  
“Let us help,” Bin said and the three of them started putting the pills under the intruder’s tongues.  
“So you were the one to save Dongmin,” Sanha said, and added, “It’s good to know that my visions can be changed sometimes.”  
“I’m glad you didn’t let us walk out,” Bin said looking over to Dongmin, who seemed a little shell shocked from it all.  
When it was done, the three of them pulled Myungjun, Jinwoo and Rocky out from their impending fights and settled them in the back room, which they then locked, and went into the alley behind the shop. “Hopefully Myungjun, Jinwoo and Rocky will just let them go without any fuss.” Sanha said and then nodded to the sphere in Bin’s hand.  
“Do you not want to do it?” Bin asked Dongmin, holding it out towards him. Dongmin shook his head with a smile.  
“No, you’re the champion today.”  
So Bin started time again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> that's it! the end! Bin and Dongmin got their happy ending. I wrote this for one of my best friend's birthday, and even so, i enjoyed writing it thoroughly, i enjoyed giving back to her what she gave to me when she sent me a link to All Night back at the start of 2020. Astro mean alot to me now (as i'm sure they mean alot to you guys reading this), and i see a little bit of myself in all of them, their flaws, their uniqueness, their friendship. I've been writing since i was 16 but i've never written fic before Astro, and who knows, maybe the hell year that is 2020 pushed me into finding a safe escape within writing about a group i admire and adore so much, or maybe it's just them. Our ot6.  
> ( I realised i hadn't mentioned this before, but with Bin, i wanted to be true to his struggles with anxiety and being a perfectionist from what he's told us- i wanted to try and be as true to his character in fiction as i could. The same with Dongmin. So that's where that came from).
> 
> ANYWAY. to anyone who had taken the time to read this, to leave kudos over the past few days, THANK YOU SO MUCH. You honestly don't know how much it means to me, but i hope you've enjoyed this little story and there may be some more on the way. Ily <3


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